Which One?

These are your three best choices for Portuguese translation. But which Portuguese electronic translator best suits your needs? Here's a summary:

TLX: Free Speech Translator and Smartphone.

LUX: Free Speech Translator.

900: Text translator.

All three Portuguese electronic translators have the features listed under the Features tab; under each picture below, you'll find what's different between them.

For entry level or multi-language advanced Portuguese electronic translators, we have more options here.

Translate Portuguese Instantly

This section explains what the Portuguese translation tools are and how they work. These tools help two people communicate, even though they don't speak the same language. These tools are designed for both you and the foreign language speaker to use.

Full text translation. This feature allows you to type in your own random sentence. It's also called sentence translation.

Pictured Dictionary. With the talking 183-language Picture Dictionary, you can translate in any direction. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Either person can look up a word and show the other person a pictorial representation. It's simple, quick, and clear.

Translation Dictionary. This, like the phrasebook (below), is a standard feature in today's electronic translators. It allows word for word translations. In the higher end models, it also has natural human voice output (see specs tab) and provides additional information such as common phrases in which that word is used. In the Ectaco line, it differs from the Pictured Dictionary in that it doesn't have the pictures or all the languages, but does have a massively deep vocabulary for the language pair it covers.

Phrasebook

The audio phrasebook was recorded with professional native narrators. Consequently, it delivers superb voice output.

The "You may hear" function helps another person select an answer from a list of canned answers. For instance, having picked the topic "In a restaurant," you choose a phrase. The waiter wants to reply to that phrase. You then select the "You may hear" option listed in the restaurant category (there is such an option in each category). The waiter can select the answer from the list provided.

A "phrase" is usually a complete sentence. It's called a "phrase" out of tradition.

Sentence Builder

This handy, easy to use feature is a word substitution tool for existing phrases in the phrasebook. You don't actually "build sentences" with it. Here's how you use Sentence Builder:

Choose a phrase.

Tap on a hyperlinked word in the phrase. This brings up a short list.

Tap a word from the list to replace the hyperlinked word with the one you tapped

Learn Portuguese Quickly

These Portuguese electronic translators provide several easy to use language learning tools.

Language Teacher. The interactive language teacher system is a powerful tool for learning other languages. It can listen to you and tell you how well you pronounce something in another language.

Linguistic Crossword. A crossword puzzle that helps you learn new words in the target language.

Linguistic Flashcards. Four different flashcard games that help you learn new words in the target language.

Why Buy

An Portuguese electronic translator gives you control over when, what, and how you communicate to the other person, and allows them to reply to you in kind. Some advantages include:

You can communicate on your schedule. No need to arrange for a human interpreter.

Less chance of "phone game" errors. Remember the phone game you played as a kid? You pass a simple message around a circle of people and by the time it gets to the end it's entirely different. Eliminate that kind of error by leaving out human interpreters and using your pocket translator to directly communicate person to person.

Share intimate thoughts without embarrassment.

Reduce or avoid the cost of hiring a human interpreter.

Reduce or eliminate the hassle of providing transportation for you, your Portuguese counterpart, and a human interpreter.

Use your pocket translator's Language Teacher program to gain a working knowledge of Portuguese for basic situations. The program is fun and easy. It even helps you correct your accent, using speech recognition.